Adair County's oldest church in need of change

Adair County’s oldest church is at risk of disappearing into the history books, with the building and cemetery slowing deteriorating with no clear path to renovation or repairs.

The Bear Creek Baptist Church and adjoining cemetery, located about three miles west of Kirksville on Route B, recently celebrated its 175th anniversary and status as the home of the county’s oldest Christian congregation.

But instead of a joyous occasion, the anniversary is a reminder for supporters of what used to be and what will likely happen if the church doesn’t receive additional funding or attention.

In a word, caretaker Cecolia Mihavelich described the church and its current condition.

“Dire,” she said.

The church congregation, the first of its kind in Adair County, was organized in 1839 and originally led by Elder Archibald Talbert Hight in the home of Lewis Conner in Adair County.

The resulting church building, which was initially erected no later than 1860, according to the National Register of Historic Places listing, would be the eventual home for the first organized Christian congregation in Adair County.

The church itself last received public attention in 1946 when the First Baptist Church of Kirksville dedicated a memorial stone and plaque to the founding pioneers.

Sitting on about 1.5 acres, a stone’s throw from traveling motorists on Route B, the church and cemetery have since fallen into varying levels of disrepair.

The church association has enough funding to support the mowing of the cemetery, but not much more.

And the decades have taken their toll.

“The foundation is going and it’s got siding that needs to be nailed back and it needs a cedar shake roof like it originally had,” said supporter and neighbor Mike Bowers.

Half the building has also been sinking due to the failing foundation and windows have been broken out and boarded up. With unsecured entrances, Mother Nature and wild animals have taken up residence.

“It really just makes me sad,” Bowers said. “It’s something that is that old and that historic. No one seems to care about it and I see something on the news or read something about some place that was built in 1925 and it’s getting a big deal and people donating money to get it fixed and I’m thinking, ‘Hey, this is the oldest church in Adair County.’”

The church still retains its listing in the National Register of Historic Places, earning that placement in 1984 and the Bear Creek Cemetery Association received a not-for-profit certificate of incorporation in 1982.

Since then, the association’s minimal funds have and should continue to provide for mowing and basic grounds maintenance of the cemetery. But beyond that, Mihalevich said, the future is unclear.

“These people were the beginnings of Adair County or pretty close,” Mihalevich said. “I would love to have some help getting stuff together on all the people, or even just the information on the stones, even if that’s just all the information we have.”

Mihalevich said the cemetery, too, has suffered vandalism and the effects of weather, with more than 400 recorded burials or stones still existing.

“Whatever you’ve got there is a reminder of our history,” she said.

Mihalevich said an account also still exists at U.S. Bank where interested parties or family members of those buried can donate, receive a receipt and help toward the preservation and restoration.

If nothing happens, she promised, that money will all be returned.

“Over the years, we’ve been able to get enough in [the account] so we can afford to keep it mowed but as far as into the future, that’s all we can do,” she said.